The Gators fall to 8-2 despite notching double-digit hits for the ninth time in 10 games.
GAINESVILLE, Fla. – No. 6 Florida came up short in the second game of its midweek series against Jacksonville, falling 10-8 at Condron Family Ballpark on Wednesday night.
Jac Caglianone<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/jac-caglianone/15489> gave the Gators (8-2) an early boost, blasting a two-out solo home run in the bottom of the first. His eighth big fly of the season gave Florida an early 1-0 lead heading into the second.
UF starting pitcher Yoel Tejeda Jr.<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/yoel-tejeda-jr-/15518> fired a second-consecutive scoreless inning in the second, bringing up the Gator bats in the bottom half. With two outs in the frame, Tyler Shelnut<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/tyler-shelnut/15515> singled and later came in on an RBI double off the left field wall by Luke Heyman<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/luke-heyman/15522>.
The Dolphins (6-4) drew within one run in the third thanks to a bases-loaded walk by Chandler Howard. As a result, Florida called on right-hander Blake Purnell<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/blake-purnell/15502>, who quickly worked the Gators out of the jam by inducing an inning-ending flyout to right field.
Jacksonville scored again in the fourth, taking a 3-2 lead with a two-run frame. With two outs and a 1-2 count, Cam Ridley singled up the middle to bring home a pair.
JU’s advantage proved to be short-lived, as the Orange & Blue was gifted with three runs the following half inning. With two outs and the bases loaded, a Jacksonville throwing error at third base brought in Ty Evans<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/ty-evans/15491>, Heyman and Michael Robertson<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/michael-robertson/15505> as Florida regained the lead, 5-3.
After a scoreless fifth, Jacksonville put up a six spot in the top of the sixth. Elias Flowers, Malloy, Ridley and Kris Armstrong<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/kris-armstrong/15090> provided RBI singles, while Blake DeLamielleure and Colin Wetterau drew bases-loaded walks. The Dolphins made it 10-5 in the seventh, as Hogan McIntosh delivered an RBI single to center.
Josh Rivera<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/josh-rivera/15504> brought the Gators within four, launching a solo homer off the batter’s eye in center field in the bottom of the seventh. Clete Hartzog<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/clete-hartzog/15521> entered the following half inning and struck out the side, holding the score for the Florida bats to gain ground. Cade Kurland<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/cade-kurland/15514> got two more runs back in the eighth, singling in a pair with the bases loaded to bring the score to its final tally of 10-8.
Tejeda Jr. received a no-decision, allowing one run over 2 2/3 frames. He allowed one hit and four walks, striking out four batters.
Reliever Fisher Jameson<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/fisher-jameson/15496> (0-2) suffered the loss. The right-hander allowed four runs across one inning of work, allowing three hits and one walk. He struck out one.
Jacksonville starter Richard Long (0-1) was also handed a no-decision, allowing five runs (two earned) across 3 2/3 innings. He allowed four hits and three walks while striking out two.
Dolphins righty Blake Barquin earned the victory, tossing 3 2/3 innings of relief with three runs allowed on four hits and one walk. The right-hander struck out one. Reliever Chris Lolito was credited with the save, firing 1 2/3 shutout frames with two hits and one strikeout.
Rivera (2-for-5), Evans (2-for-5) and Shelnut (2-for-5) collected multiple hits in the defeat.
NOTABLES
* Hartzog made his Gators debut, striking out the side in order in the eighth.
* With his first-inning blast, Caglianone now leads the NCAA with eight home runs.
* Of the four players tied for the team lead in hits, three of them (Kurland, Caglianone, Rivera) collected a hit on Wednesday and are now tied for the team lead with 16 hits.
* Kurland and Rivera both extended their hitting streaks to a team-leading eight games.
* Florida’s run differential of plus-67 is the team’s best through nine games since the 2003 season (plus-86).
* The Gators have scored in 52 of 81 batted innings this season (65.3%).
* For the ninth time in 10 games this year, the Gators recorded double-digit hits.
* Florida has posted nine or more hits in every game this season.
* The Gators have 129 hits through 10 games (12.9 hits/game).
* The Gators fall to 63-35 all-time vs. Jacksonville including 20-7 under Head Coach Kevin O’Sullivan<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/coaches/kevin-o-sullivan/1551>.
* Florida drops to 43-16 against the Dolphins at home.
* UF has won 11 of the last 13 meetings overall.
FROM HEAD COACH KEVIN O’SULLIVAN
On tonight’s loss…
“We had two really bad innings this year on the mound: one in the ninth inning against South Florida and obviously, the one today in the sixth inning. You’re not going to win many games when you walk 11 and you hit three and some of these guys are older. I got to remind guys to cover home plate on wild pitches. I went out and talked about the bunt defense before it happened. They tried to bunt with their eight-hole hitter. We knew they were going to bunt with the nine-hole hitter. We hesitated. Not quite sure why. The positive is we put ourselves in a position to tie the game up at the end.”
On the bullpen…
“Clete had a really good inning in the eighth. We didn’t want to use Cade Fisher<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/cade-fisher/15513> tonight, want to save him for the weekend. It’s just disappointing… We’ll learn from it. We talked about it before the game. If we just say we average our starters on the weekend, six innings a piece and [Brandon] Neely goes three innings, that leaves six innings left for the whole weekend. We should be able to manage with the guys that we have to get six extra innings on the weekend. [Ryan] Slater’s been really good. Cade’s been really good. [Nick Ficarrotta<https://floridagators.com/sports/baseball/roster/nick-ficarrotta/15493>], I know he had the one bad inning last night, but he’s been fairly consistent. We just need to find one or two more guys to bridge the gap. We’re close, but obviously these types of games drag on. They’ve been taught 15 pitches or less per inning, two of the first three pitches for strikes, attack the strike zone, let’s play defense. For whatever reason tonight, in the six-run inning and the one against South Florida in the ninth, we just didn’t do that.”
On his plan with the pen moving forward…
“The bottom line is pretty simple: you pitch well, you pitch again. You play well, you play. It’s really that simple. It’s not going to get any easier as you move forward. We got Miami this weekend and they’re very good. The SEC, they know. I would understand if it were freshmen, but there’s some older kids that have been in the program that have been through it before.”
UP NEXT
Florida hosts rival No. 22 Miami in a three-game series spanning from Friday, March 3 through Sunday, March 5. The first two games will stream on SEC Network+, while Sunday’s 12 p.m. finale airs on SEC Network.
